A hand glass interface to explore 3D virtual space

In this paper, a novel exploration system for 3D virtual space named “the hand glass interface” is proposed. The proposed system provides both scalable exploration and intuitive operationality. It includes a novel hand glass display and a viewpoint changing system, which was proposed in our previous work. The hand glass display consists of four parts: a mini LCD, a micro trackball mouse, a motion sensor and a gripper. The operator can easily handle the hand glass interface in one hand, the motions of which are related to those of either the viewpoint or gaze point. In addition, the directional relationship between the virtual and real worlds is always fixed. This means the operator can intuitively explore within the 3D virtual space by using directional clues in the real world. The fundamental experiment shows its feasibilities.